Many types of organizations use paper forms to acquire data that is required to provide service and run their business. Examples range from banks that process large numbers of hand-written checks to government offices that receive and process typed or hand-written forms. These organizations typically run computerized databases and other computerized systems at the core of their business. They use automated systems to process large numbers of paper forms and convert them into computer-readable information. Several requirements are common to many such applications. The system must provide high throughput. The accuracy of translation from paper to computer database must be very high, while operating costs should be minimized.
Modern data entry procedures employ Optical Character Recognition (OCR) techniques to automate processing of form documents, referred to hereinafter as “forms.” The accuracy of OCR is finite, resulting in a certain amount of conversion error. Many applications, such as check processing, cannot tolerate errors. In an effort to increase the conversion accuracy, various solutions and systems have been proposed for verification and elimination of errors. These verification solutions typically include human intervention, wherein a human operator is required to approve or correct “suspicious” information that is identified by the OCR system. The major drawback of human-based verification is its cost, and the impact of this cost on the total operating cost of the system.
Text messaging, in the form of Short Message Service (SMS) and its equivalents, has become widely available in virtually all mobile phone networks and many fixed public and private networks. Text messaging has gained wide popularity in recent years as a personal communication medium and as an enabling technology for a wide variety of automated services. An example of a system that uses SMS messaging as a method for providing feedback on computerized tasks can be found in PCT patent publication WO 02/054281 A2, whose disclosure is incorporated herein for reference.